The Highly Calibrated Wizard
When I first started playing Mage Wars, I instantly gravitated to the Wizard. Why? Not because I had heard it was the best, not because of the abilities. I went with the wizard because I had heard that it was the hardest to play. That’s the only reason. I love a thought provoking challenge, and the Wizard happened to be it. So, I tried out the pre-constructed books. And he was difficult, but not terribly so. As well, I didn’t much care for the mana denial aspect that was thrown in. So, I built my own book. And how did it do?
Terrible. This book was just bad. Why? Because I tried to play aggressive solo Fire Wizard. I thought that not having to cast creatures and just kiting was enough to win the game. It was not. Turns out creatures are kind of a good thing… I was finally able to make him work, but it was when I included creatures that the book became halfway decent. And then Forcemaster vs. Warlord came out and dropped a huge boulder on everyone’s head.
I didn’t even bother with the Forcemaster, or the Warlord. I just wanted to build a Stone Wizard. I had seen these awesome attack spells and I figured that they would go great in the wizard. As well, you have these awesome Iron golems that can just do so much work and are nigh impossible to kill. So the book started out much more controlling. It won, and it did a great job at winning, but it lost to more aggressive decks. How could I fix that? Well, I didn’t, for a long time. And then I came across a “Pop sniper” strategy, which was basically to drop an Archer’s Watchtower followed by a Grimson Deadeye, Sniper and smash faces. Many faces. This actually is the shell of the book, and what makes it work so well. So, without further ado, I’m going to list the book and then go through the different strategies this book can provide.
4 Hurl Boulder (
1 Hail of Stone (2)
1 Arc Lightning (2)
2 Iron Golem (6)
1 Grimson Deadeye, Sniper (
1 Steelclaw Grizzly (
1 Sunfire Amulet (4)
1 Elemental Cloak (1)
1 Mage Wand (2)
1 Dragonscale Hauberk (2)
1 Regrowth Belt (2)
1 Leather Boots (1)
1 Leather Gloves (1)
1 Battle Forge (4)
1 Wall of Steel (2)
1 Wizard’s Tower (2)
2 Mana Crystal (2)
1 Wall of Thorns (1)
1 Archer’s Watchtower (2)
3 Tanglevine (6)
1 Block (2)
2 Jinx (2)
1 Teleport Trap (1)
2 Nullify (2)
1 Turn to Stone (3)
1 Hawkeye (2)
1 Eagle Wings (4)
1 Magebane (2)
1 Ghoul Rot (4)
1 Rouse the Beast (2)
2 Sniper Shot (2)
2 Dissolve (4)
1 Purge Magic (3)
2 Dispel (2)
2 Charge (4)
2 Seeking Dispel (2)
1 Force Push (2)
2 Battle Fury (4)
4 Teleport (
This is all for a total of 120 points. Now, how does the book work? It may seem like just a bunch of random spells thrown together with little to no thought behind them, but in reality, there is a very subtle cohesiveness that can only be found once we dig deeper than the surface. Let’s start with the beginning, shall we?
The Opener:
Every single game, under almost every single circumstance, your first two rounds are going to be the same. You are going to sprint to the near center with your full action, and then quickcast Archer’s Watchtower for 4 mana. For those of you who may not know what “Near center” means, look at a Mage Wars board. Look at where your starting corner is. Now, go up one zone. After that, go to the left one zone. Congrats! You’ve made it to the Near Center. It’s called this because there is no exact “center” of the board, only two that go “near” the center.
In any case, during the second round, you are going to cast Grimson Deadeye followed by a rouse the Beast for 19 mana. This means you can shoot this round. But what does this do? There are many builds today that like to “turtle”, that is, to stay in their corner and build up their resources until a point in which they can unleash a larger attack without having to worry about resource depletion. A lot of wizard builds these days depend on this turtling method. By starting aggressive during the second round, you are forcing them to react. To either come out of their shell, or die. Because with Watchtower, you are rolling 5 dice in their starting corner.
Now, as soon as this round is over, one of two things is going to happen:
1. They are going to try and control/destroy your Sniper.
2. They are going to go hyper aggressive on you.
If one happens, there’s a few different things you can do, depending on where they are attacking from. If they try to attack you from the other side of the Near center, Wall of Steel. Due to the Watchtower giving the Sniper the “Indirect” ability, you can now smash face with a wall up. If they start attacking from the side instead of the near center, I tanglevine em. I might save the vine for when you have initiative next turn, in order to Jinx them, but that is up to you. If they ever happen to get in the same zone as you, you are in a fantastic position to Force Push Wall of thorns them, which then lets you shoot with the sniper. Oh the synergies!
If they go hyper aggressive on me, then I like to start to put them on the back foot by using the next turn to drop a mana crystal and a hawkeye on myself. This is to bluff that I’m on the back foot myself and that I have turned to reacting (poorly, I might add, like reacting with a mana crystal is a good move!). The next turn I can then double hurl boulder for 16 dice of damage, followed by a Grimson shot for either 5/6/7 damage. If I do this for two turns in a row followed by a force push, wall of thorns, they are dead, as that’s an average of 52 damage. Over the span of three rounds.
So what are the other cards for then? Well, there will be times when your opponent does something more aggressive than you. I know, I know. Or they will kill your sniper in one shot with a boulder. Or some other craziness. When that happens, I incorporate the Battle forge Iron Bear control strategy. You can also use this as your opener if you want. Dropping a battle forge in the adjacent zone to your sniper, and then dropping a crystal. Next turn, I cast Sunfire with the forge, turning on my shield, and casting a second crystal. This sets you up in a monster control position, and from then on it’s only a matter of casting and using your golems with charge and tele to smash face. You also have Grizzly to work with, who is an effective, and crazy damage dealer. If you find that they can’t deal with flying very well, grizzly+wings is the way to go.
I guess I want to end by saying that this book over its various iterations has won over 40 games against skilled, experienced, and apt opponents. The book punishes the opponent for making mistakes, but be warned, as can also be unforgiving in your doings as well. This book, more than any other I have seen, commands that you think a few rounds ahead, and to really think about what your opponent is doing. I highly encourage you to try this book out and see what it can do!
Dude
